Order of The Gilded Flip Flop

So far that's the plan. Also, I'm told that I get on the truck right away Friday, follow his schedule until Sunday, take his Monday, and Tuesday off, then finish Wednesday, and the rest of the week or whatever...and blaa blaa, then work into my schedule (with mandatory extensions) as allows.

I guess he's got a store ambassador meeting that Friday, so they have to swing him through the DC anyway, and that's when I jump on.

Infidel

So far that's the plan. Also, I'm told that I get on the truck right away Friday, follow his schedule until Sunday, take his Monday, and Tuesday off, then finish Wednesday, and the rest of the week or whatever...and blaa blaa, then work into my schedule (with mandatory extensions) as allows.

I guess he's got a store ambassador meeting that Friday, so they have to swing him through the DC anyway, and that's when I jump on.

Well-Known Member

Walmart seems to be doing the opposite of what most store chains do, adding to their freight base.

We lost quite a bit of P&G freight a few weeks ago, with Walmart seeming to take control over their freight from those places. I guess they are trying to better utilize the drivers they keep advertising for by increasing the backhauls. Kind of funny how it works. Initially, the loads I was used to seeing disappeared, but just a few short weeks later, they are showing back up. At first, they were live loads, and now they are actually being preloaded again. The best part? they are paying better. Loads that had dropped as low at $1.40-1.50 going to the DC by my house and now showing up at $1.80.

I can only guess, but it seems as though a bean counter got a wild idea about trying to keep the trucks loaded, but failed to realize it was P&G, where nothing is ever ready to go on time.

Infidel

Going into peak @Mike trailers get very precious. A lot of times they cut back hauls simply because we can not give up the trailer pool and meet store demands. Some of out busiest stores go from 7-8 trailers a week to 21.

We always end up renting trailers. So any back haul that holds trailers being say a day is out until after peak.

Well-Known Member

Going into peak @Mike trailers get very precious. A lot of times they cut back hauls simply because we can not give up the trailer pool and meet store demands. Some of out busiest stores go from 7-8 trailers a week to 21.

We always end up renting trailers. So any back haul that holds trailers being say a day is out until after peak.

I know all about the trailer renting. You guys seem to rent out half of ours. Our terminals are steadily filling up with trailers full of walmart freight in preparation for Black Friday. We go through this every year.

What I was referring to is Walmart coming in during the annual p&g contract time a month or so ago and basically taking on freight there that they used to farm out.

Walmart simply has a different plan of action that most, and I am curious as to how it will turn out in a few years.

For years now, most operations like Walmart has worked to farm out as much of the transportation as possible because it saved the company money. Even Walmart did this. In the past couple years though, they are reversing course and seem to be doing it at full speed.

They are hauling more and more of their own freight, and have been pushing to increase their driver base for quite some time now.

I'm curious how far this trend will go, if it will succeed, or if there will be a complete reversal of what we are seeing now as time goes on.

Quack

I know all about the trailer renting. You guys seem to rent out half of ours. Our terminals are steadily filling up with trailers full of walmart freight in preparation for Black Friday. We go through this every year.

What I was referring to is Walmart coming in during the annual p&g contract time a month or so ago and basically taking on freight there that they used to farm out.

Walmart simply has a different plan of action that most, and I am curious as to how it will turn out in a few years.

For years now, most operations like Walmart has worked to farm out as much of the transportation as possible because it saved the company money. Even Walmart did this. In the past couple years though, they are reversing course and seem to be doing it at full speed.

They are hauling more and more of their own freight, and have been pushing to increase their driver base for quite some time now.

I'm curious how far this trend will go, if it will succeed, or if there will be a complete reversal of what we are seeing now as time goes on.

I don't get how it can be moved cheaper with outside carriers. After all, those carriers don't operate to break even. They're for profit.

Anyway, so there's X amount of freight that's going to be moved. If Walmart's own employees haul it, that's more people they employ. And the more Americans they employ, the less damage they can say they do to the US economy by stocking their shelves with the Made in China label and seafood raised in Vietnamese sewers.

Rabid Squaw

WalMart puts a lot of their backhaul freight on the contracted carriers working out of the DCs. They figure they're paying for our return trip anyway, might as well put some freight in the trailer they're already paying to be hauled. Local produce, meats, farm products...can be loaded onto a trailer that's on its way back to the DC anyway. WalMart has enough pull that their trailers don't often get held up for long. The shippers don't like getting nasty phone calls from WalMart, so they step to when a WallyWagon shows up. There's one place I pick up where I will send the load number to the loader's private cell phone with an ETA. We have drop trailers there because we haul so much of their stuff. Before I had the loader's phone number, there were times I'd sit for two hours before everything was done and signed for. Now, I text ahead and the load is waiting for me complete with paperwork when I arrive.

For live loads, I think I've waited maybe a half hour for a door to clear and when I get backed in, the dock people are asses and elbows. Places that would keep Prime Injun waiting for hours and hours will move Swifty/WalMart Injun out in short order.

Infidel

I don't get how it can be moved cheaper with outside carriers. After all, those carriers don't operate to break even. They're for profit.

Anyway, so there's X amount of freight that's going to be moved. If Walmart's own employees haul it, that's more people they employ. And the more Americans they employ, the less damage they can say they do to the US economy by stocking their shelves with the Made in China label and seafood raised in Vietnamese sewers.

It is not cheaper per se. However some carriers come in with bids insanely low to get the business. We have a lane from Grove City, Oh to Ft Pierce, Fl the people who won the bid are at $1.08/ per mile with 10 trailers dedicated to the pool for that lane according to the ROC at a grassroots. We have several lanes like that. Memphis to Apple Valley for $.96 but HUB is doing that one on the rails.